Coyotes can be a chicken or ducks best friend

[GldnValleyHens]

Coyotes are horrible. Period. Here we can shoot them 24/7 with a license, and anytime they are on our property chances are they're turned into fur pelts!
Never had a chicken killed by a coyote, as far as I know, but there was one standing about 20 ft away from the coop watching with a hungry expression. We didn't get him though. About 4 years back they ganged up on our German Shepherd, who absolutely despises them. There was a vicious attack one him, and in the morning I went out there to find Chase spurting blood out of a torn ear, and pawprints and blood all around from coyotes and him. Now he hates them even more and goes barking and snarling after them, even if he just hears some howling. He's getting up in years and takes a lot of naps, so he doesn't protect the chickens at all like he should. He let a hawk take one while he probably snored through it.

 

[morganalefae]

GldnValleyHens sounds like it's time to train a new pup. Thankfully I live in the UK now and they wiped out wild dogs (like coyotes and wolfs) hundreds of years ago. but I'm still stuck with possible foxes,bagers and predator birds. here tho I have a better chance of having a chicken taken by someones cat they let wander (which no laws agaist here in the UK!).

 

[Lifewithchicks]

Coyotes are easy to keep out .And they kill and eat smaller killers that are much harder to keep out so think before you kill off the coyotes that patrol your place. you will be more inviting to weasels foxes and such with the coyotes gone.

This is what works here. We have coyotes and hear them often. Haven’t seen one even on the game cam in well over a year. They never come around during the day. They still have a lot of woods, pastures and rural area. We have tons of cottontails for them to eat. The only people I know that have lost livestock to them didn’t have them secured at night.
As long as they stay off our property and hunt at night, I’d much rather them than weasels, minks or raccoons.

Edited to add: we used to see them often on our game cam running the edge of where our property meets the woods at night (also where the bunnies like to hang out). We got a big security light that’s super bright from the electric company and have not seen one on the cam since the light that my husband calls “the sun” lights up our yard. So this may be something others could try to deter them.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

i trap the coyotes here (the pelts bring in $100) yet to catch one though..

 

[PirateGirl]

Honestly, reading your post made me feel a little better. We have coyotes and we have hawks, but honestly it's rare to see or hear of anything else other than the bunnies and prairie dogs which eat feed, but not chickens. I never really thought about the coyotes keeping the smaller predators in check, but I don't doubt it.

When my husband and I built our coop/run our goal was "coyote proof" not "predator proof" and so far it has worked, and if the coyotes keep the smaller predators away, hopefully it will continue to work.

 

[llombardo]

I've even had packs of coyotes run on the place in broad daylight to slaughter my flock, the losses were devastating. My German Shepherd gets let outside after I lock up my chickens so he can mark territory and maul coyotes getting too comfy around the farm. Then my Aussies sit with the flock all day to keep other daytime predators away. Then my barncats kill rats, mice, and squirrels that cause other problems for my chickens. Although.. my roosters are better mousers than my cats
I could see though if you lived by water why you'd want to keep coyotes around, I'm lucky enough that I'm far from water. Most small predators stay away

I have three GSDs. They say to have large dogs urinate around the perimeter to keep coyotes away. Guess they will be peeing a lot around the enclosed pen. What would be considered day time predators? I worry because Coyotes are seen all day long no matter the time here.

 

[HuskerHens18]

I have three GSDs. They say to have large dogs urinate around the perimeter to keep coyotes away. Guess they will be peeing a lot around the enclosed pen. What would be considered day time predators? I worry because Coyotes are seen all day long no matter the time here.

We have the same issue in this part of Nebraska, "daytime" predators are everything, even night predators come out during the day. Minks/weasels, hawks/eagles, and stray dogs I think are the "usual" daytime predators. But just about everything comes out to hunt anytime here :/ some people claim stray cats have killed their chickens. Personally I have huge barncats and strays and none have posed a threat to my chickens

 

[llombardo]

When I had my stray rooster, I found him almost everyday with a stray cat in the area. They were buddies and I found it odd, but the cat never went after the rooster and the rooster didn't seem to feel like the cat was a threat.